This weekend I raced the US Marathon team trials in Atlanta, GA. This was my first race in the new Epic Legacy. The race was 35 km with 5 portages. We had a pack of 4-5 boats for the first few laps. I sprained my foot during the 2^nd portage and started moving very slowly on the runs after that.

 

The pack pulled a 30 second lead on me during the 3^rd portage. Robert Clegg then proceeded to drop the rest of the pack and pull away. I attempted to grind him down, but Robert was moving too fast for me to gain ground. I finally packed up with Abel Hastings, then pulled 20 to 30 seconds ahead of him before the 4^th portage. To my dismay, Abel caught and passed me on the portage. We then paddled together and he pulled out on the final portage. I caught him quickly afterwards, rode together and then sprinted to a 2^nd place finish.

 

We had some drama about 2 minutes into the race when Reid Hyle collided with Jason Quagliata, capsizing both of them! Reid recovered and made an impressive push back to a 4^th place finish.

 

The top 2 finishers qualified for the US team, providing time standards had been met. I will not compete at the World Championships this September due to my work requirements.

 

Epic paddles were used by the top 5 K-1 M finishers and the winner of the K-1 W.

 

Top finishers in the Sr. Singles events were as follows;